Computer-based technologies are changing the way America works. New technologies aren't just making workers' tasks easier or more efficient—they're altering the very ways offices operate. But many companies aren't getting the most out of their information systems because managers are reluctant to give up their traditional role as the “guardians of all useful knowledge.”

For America's white-collar workers, the 1980s are a period of transition. The office of the 1990s may look—and operate—as differently from the office of today as the office of the 1980s does from the office of the 1950s. Perhaps the biggest change will come from the maturing role of computers. “When computers were in the back room, they were just a tactical tool,” says John Donovan, chairman of the Cambridge Technology Group. “Now computers are in the corner office. They are a strategic tool.”

Computer-based technologies are not just making office workers' tasks easier or more efficient. They are altering the very ways offices operate. “Office automation changes the way that information flows between and within organizations, the way that work is distributed in an office, the way that people do their work, and the skills they need,” the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) has pointed out.